Flying? Nope, not me.

Here's this morning's forecast:

8am EDT (12Z): wind 150° at 5 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, sky clear, wind shear from surface to 2,000 feet AGL: at 2,000 feet, wind 220° at 40 knots

10:00am EDT (1400Z): wind 180° at 12 knots gusting to 20 knots, visibility greater than 6 miles, sky clear

And the bad news is, this has the best that it's been for the last five days, which as it turns out, were vacation days. Now, 12 gusting 20 is getting pretty close to something I'd consider, but this is the only day of the 5 that is spoken for by the family. No problem that, mind you; a good time will be had my all as we celebrate my father-in-law's 90th birthday in grand style:

Dr. Donald E. McGinnis, Director of Bands Emeritus and cherished OSU Faculty Member from 1941-1981, will be honored with a special 90th birthday celebration by the OSU School of Music. The celebration will feature a performance by the OSU Wind Symphony and distinguished guest artists.

McGinnis taught flute and clarinet at OSU for 38 years, was chairman of the performance division and acting director of the School of Music (1973-74). He helped found the Faculty Woodwind Quintet, and conducted the OSU Concert Band for 27 years. McGinnis has been a guest conductor, soloist and clinician in 45 states and many countries. Beginning in 1941, he was principal clarinetist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, principal flutist for 10 years and assistant conductor 1974-1982.

Schedule

3pm Free Concert featuring the OSU Wind Symphony, Russel Mikkelson, conductor
Flute and Clarinet students of Dr. McGinnis to be featured...find music on the osu band website as of September 19, http://bands.osu.edu/News-article11.html (Rehearsal probably around 1:30 pm the day of the concert)

5pm Reception (cash bar) OSU Faculty Club

6PM Dinner

What could be better? Well, I suppose that parenthetical "cash bar" could be improved upon... just kidding.

Despite the lack of decent flying weather, the kayak project has filled the vacation hours nicely. Frankly, I don't know what I'm going to do when it's done! I enjoy the work, but it's going to run out eventually. I'll miss it.

There is apparently a de rigeur photo required when building a kayak and reaching the point where the hull is fully glassed, and the cockpit coaming is clamped in place:





This is the first, and so far only, step where I didn't completely follow the manual. The coaming is built up of three layers of shaped wood, and the instructions would have had me trying to get all three layers aligned and clamped all at once. I opted to do a layer at a time. The only cost to that was waiting 6 or so hours between layers, but I'm not in any hurry.

Now that the coaming is on, the next step will be to fiberglass it. After that, there are only a few more pieces-parts to install, then it is just a matter of sanding, sanding, sanding, interspersed with occasional applications of varnish. The only thing left to do after that is hope that it floats!